The poor and disease
There was a compelling story last night on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer about how diseases limited to third world countries in the past are now showing up in poor populations around the U.S. Rural areas like those in our own Conference are one of the hot spots for this problem.
The first two-thirds of the story focus on relatively rare parasitic diseases, like Chagas disease and Trichomoniasis. A compelling part of the interview for me was near the end of the story, when reporter Jeffrey Kaye asks why more drugs aren’t available to treat these diseases. The doctor being interviewed answered: “I believe it because these are diseases of the poor, there’s no money in it.”
In Appalachia, diseases like Chagas and Trichmmomiasis are rare. We deal with high rates of diabetes, heart, and periodontal disease. “These are the neglected diseases of poverty.” physician Scott Saeverud said in the story. “When you have a tsunami of people with no health care at all…I’ve diagnosed two people today with diabetes, people who have never been told they have it before.” Saeverud is part of a team of physicians in Remote Area Medical, a group of doctors, nurses, and dentists who volunteer their services at weekend clinics in poor communities around the U.S.
We’re going to take a hard look at poverty and its impact on our Conference and beyond in the next year, reinforcing one of the Four Areas of Focus for the United Methodist Church right now: Engaging in Ministry with the Poor (read more about the four areas of focus here.) Our goal is a multi-media series – with articles in the West Virginia United Methodist, blog updates, slideshows, audio, and video stories. If you have ideas/thoughts/suggestions for the series, e-mail us here – or leave a comment by clicking the ‘Leave a comment’ link at the bottom of this post.
Tags: Disease, Four Areas of Focus, Poverty
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